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If countries lied (distorted their economic figures) to gain acceptance into the Eurozone it is facile to suggest that this was not with the blessing of those wishing to make the EZ block as large as possible irrespective of the consequences. You seriously think Goldman was not on both sides of the fence?

I am largely in agreement and it is good to hear someone elaborating my own sentiments about the way the EU 'should' progress.....maybe even MUST progress if it is to survive in the longer term which I sincerely hope it will.

Could Mr Varoufakis seriously believe that rich regions once they have got the independence are going to maintain its fiscal transfers to poor areas of its former country, when avoidance of fiscal transfers to poor regions is one of the mottos of the separatist movements in rich regions? I think the outcome of Mr Varoufakis model would be a new middle age in Europe with many local powers at the service of local élites and pressure groups, destroying basic elements of what we have achieved such as the internal market and the free movement of people. The end of the EU. Old nationalism with a touch of " Varoufakis" modernity to be sold.

Current centralisation of power and privatisation of wealth in the EU following the neoliberal nonsense which has become the orthodoxy is already leading us towards a medieval renaissance of the worst possible kind.

Mr Varoufakis is really a gentleman when judging the poor / biaised performance of Ms Colau as the major of Barcelona .That is the best that can be said about this article . The rest is a blatant exhibition of ignorance of the Spanish history and the history of the Spanish regions ( like Catalonia ) . Calling the democratic government of Spain authoritarian makes me wonder what type of desolusional state he is in . The same state that makes him complain about the police legal backed performance in Spain when everybody still remembers the greek police brutal action under the orders of Mr Varoufakis government .

although I agree on the idea of the need for a new sovereignty that goes beyond the "National State", I believe that your analysis of the roots of Catalan independentism does not go sufficiently back in time and deep in the causes. The economic crisis has definitely provided a big push to it, but it's not there that the story has started. Austerity, albeit important, is not the main reason why the EU affected the development of independentism in some European regions, which by no chance happen to be among the reacher of their countries. The rebellion to EU asterity measures could be a driver, but this analysis seems to forget that most of these independist movements, want to get rid of their State, not the EU. On the contrary, at least the majority of them aim to remain in the EU. So let's try to see the thing from another point of view. Catalonian industrial developement in XIX century was mainly driven by the fact of being part of Spain, having access to its big market and profiting of the economies of agglomeration that this provided. As you teach me, in a protectionist economy, where the internal market is basically the only market, no little region would have ever asked to secede from the big national State it belonged to. The impact of the EU is then related to the market access and economic opportunities that it offers, which go far beyond those offered by a single country. Going out of Spain, but remaining part of the EU, Catalonia would get all the benefit of a market of 500 million people, without the budget and redistribution constraints that being part of Spain imposes. Even though also Europe applies redistribution, this is different in form and inferior in the amount to the one demanded by a national state.This said, the EU is indeed the reason why regional independentism is spreading around, but mostly for making national state useless, at least from an economic, and partly social and political point of view. Of course the crisis build on top of this, by adding the nationalist component to the movement and giving the necessary grip for populist and simplistic claims to spread around.All this to say, that Yes we need a new sovereignty in Europe, and Yes we should rebuild it by working on a new subsidiarity that goes from the local community to the European level, but let's make sure we build it starting from the correct assumptions.

It is a gross inaccuracy to equate Catalan nationalism with "radical parochialism, isolationism, and atavistic nativism" of the Marine Le Pen type. For a start, the coalition currently in power in the Catalan government is formed by two staunchly pro-EU parties, PDCat (centre-right) and Esquerra Republicana (centre-left), and they're supported in parliament by a radical anti-capitalist, leftist group (CUP). Catalan independentists, in alliance with left parties like Ada Colau's, have persistently campaigned for welcoming refugees into Catalonia. On the other hand, Mr. Rajoy's Partido Popular has always thrived on aggressive Spanish nationalism, and in the current crisis it is teaming up with far-right forces like Societat Civil Catalana, who organized the unionist march that took place in Barcelona yesterday. By the way, Falange Española, a fascist-inspired Francoist group, also took part, along with leaders of the xenophobic Plataforma per Catalunya (hard-line unionists despite their name). These are in fact the most disturbing side-effects of the crisis: the renaissance of the Spanish far right, which again today displayed violence in the city of Valencia (a Catalan-speaking area, but outside Catalonia and not secessionist), and the adoption of far-right behaviours by the Spanish government itself.

Unfortunately MR Veroufakis has been soured by difficult and failed negotiations with the EU. He would though do well to remember that the unfortunate situation in Greece found itself was strictly of their own making.

If one wants to destroy the current EU project, Veroufakis has provided a road map. The localization of economics and politics might well be the wave of the future, but turning Europe into a multiplicity of principalities and duchies, as was found in Germany prior to Napoleon, without attending to the overall political framework to ensure integration while preserving local autonomy is very dangerous. One can agree that the EU has become a stagnant bureaucracy with self-preservation as its primary goal, but what is needed is a well constructed strategy for change, not a few tactical modifications to existing arrangements.

I agree completely with your assessment. Veroufakis' proposal has two major flaws in it, one is structural and the other one political. First, as you pointed out, the lack of an overall political framework that maintains integration within its current member countries can only create a strong incentive against the EU. The Second, however, is even worse. Veroufakis is proposing an anachronistic dream of an idealized Europe in which there are no countries, but only a federal multi-state. This is wrong for, at least, two reasons. First, it is totally out of touch with the current reality in which the EU finds itself right now. The EU is fighting for its own existence, specially after Brexit, and its members can barely maintain their own commitments to the Union. To propose a new "union" of smaller and smaller regions that will destroy the territorial integrity of its member states could simply mean the break up of the existing union (particularly with the current rise of far right eurosceptical parties). Second, it motivates the wrong kind of people needed to construct a better Union. It confirms the hopes of nationalistic movements all around Europe that the EU is the way forward in order to materialize their provincial dreams of independence, no matter if they are based in reality or fiction. The reaction from other far right nationalistic movements that oppose their aspirations could only polarize even more the debate of Europe's integration to the point of poisoning it completely. The EU would become the phantom of a failed attempt of a united Europe that ended up in chaos.

Because everything seems to be working well on that well structured strategy? The political and economic elite have zero-interest in fixing the problems that plague the Eurozone, unless it retains their statuses.

I made a comment to a Financial Times (FT) piece on Wolfgang Schauble's retirement . I stated "He is the man who destroyed Greece and likely the EU as well". This position received 8 upvotes and two responses. One was "Greek politicians destroyed Greece. And they continue to do so." which received 23 upvotes. The other was "Greece destroyed itself." which received 43 upvotes. There you have it, the "feckless Greeks" meme is triumphant. The powerless are blamed for what is done to them. So it will be in Catalonia.

Reforming the EU is impossible. It cannot be reformed. It must be replaced. Will Varoufakis ever recognise this? Reading his excellent book "Adults in the Room" I suspect not. He is too reasonable to recognise the limits of reasonableness.

'..."He (Schauble) is the man who destroyed Greece and likely the EU as well". "Greek politicians destroyed Greece. And they continue to do so." "Greece destroyed itself."...'All three positions on GR are correct IMO. Personally I think Schauble knew only too well the implications of the common currency becoming dysfunctional and this is shown by his response to the development of the interest rate spread where it is reported he exploded and said that cannot happen. Interest rate spread means the euro has varying value depending which side of the street you are on which means it is not a common currency. He also offered GR a way out, Grexit, which they ducked. Basically they wanted their cake and to eat it and to eat somebody else's. GR government lied, reportedly aided and abetted by Goldman Sachs to gain entry into the EZ. Catalonia, if it does gain independence is in for a rough time including being told to reapply for the EU and having that application blocked by Spain because applications have to be agreed by all members. The EZ cannot work without automatic transfers being introduced which are a feature of all common currencies. SInce that will not happen it will fail, the only question is when. A common currency without transfers simply drives wealth and economic growth to the already wealthy. Reform will not occur because nobody wants that outcome today and it is always today in the EU

Yanis Varoufakis, the eurozone's enfant terrible while he was Greece's finance minister from January to July 2015, lashes out at Jean-Claude Juncker. In reference to police violence in Barcelona a week ago, when Catalonia held its referendum on secession, the European Commission's president did not condemn Spain's prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, while insisting it was "an internal Spanish problem in which the EU has no say." Obviously the EU has no interest in facilitating a region to become independent and automatically reintegrate into the bloc, as it would only encourage more independence movements within their member states. The author says it is utter hypocrisy because he had "personally experienced" how the EU interfered in a "member state’s internal affairs – say, to demand the removal of elected politicians for refusing to implement cuts in the pensions of their poorest citizens or to sell off public assets at ridiculous prices." At the same time the bloc turned a blind eye to the Hungarian and Polish governments which "explicitly renounce fundamental EU principles." While not taking side, the author says Spain has no right to stop Catalonia from breaking away. As the separatist province wants to be part of the EU, but not part of the "authoritarian" Spanish state, he proposes a European solution to the crisis. His advice to Madrid is to create a political and cultural process that makes Catalonia want to stay in Spain, not to keep it united by legal means - declaring the vote unconstitutional and resorting to violence. Although 90 % of the 2.26 million Catalonians voted for independence, the turnout was only 42.3 %. In this respect the author says the EU "could invoke a code of conduct for secession," that would support "an independence referendum if the regional government requesting it has already won an election on such a platform with an absolute majority of the voters." More importantly "the referendum should be held at least one year after the election, to allow for a proper, sober debate." The sensible way ought to be to "Europeanize the solution to a problem caused largely by Europe’s systemic crisis. Instead of impeding local and regional democratic governance, the EU should be fostering it." To start with EU treaties should "amended to enshrine the right of regional governments and city councils......They could also be allowed to implement their own policies on refugees and migration." To this end, national parliaments should be more involved in the legislative process in Brussels. The author does not seem satisfied with the principle of subsidiarity, which ensures that decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizen at local or regional level and that constant checks are made to verify that action at the EU level should be confined solely to those issues that cannot be resolved effectively at national level, Despite devolution of power to local institutions, he still sees an over-centralisation - a ‘super-state’ as rejected by euro-sceptics - making the EU a multi-level system of shared policy making. If a lesson can be learned, the author says the Catalonia crisis "is a strong hint from history that Europe needs to develop a new type of sovereignty, one that strengthens cities and regions, dissolves national particularism, and upholds democratic norms." Such an institution would benefit separatists in Catalonia, Northern Ireland or Scotland etc. "But the longer-term beneficiary of this new type of sovereignty would be Europe as a whole. Imagining a pan-European democracy is the prerequisite for imagining a Europe worth saving." If he has his way, he wants to empower the Europea Parliament and make it sovereign. Yet it is unclear whether such a supranational democracy would be truly representative and respectful of the interests of the weaker EU member states.

In the U.S. 14 states (out of 50) receive less in return than they send to Washington D.C., and 36 receive more. The Atlantic magazine has an article, Which states are givers and takers, https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/05/which-states-are-givers-and-which-are-takers/361668/A transfer union is anathema to Germany. Yet is seems the basis for a unified regional government, some regions at some times will be net takers. The EU, at the insistence of Germany, has really fumbled the ball on protecting states from bond market vigilantes. Sovereign states cannot raise capital issuing bonds because markets price in their debt position. Permanent indebtedness and recession/depression result for Greece and others. Here the author makes a presumption, "Rich Veneto could secede from Italy, for example, as long as it maintained its fiscal transfers to the South." It gets complicated, but some ratios could be established as growth and change develop. I know that Mexico has a minimum wage of $5 a day, and China not much more. I think that disqualifies them from trade with the U.S. If I write a book, I'll explain the whole thing.

Varou, you are so predictable! But I will tear down your last hairs here. Your article is a set of falsehoods hat will sink you into the swamp, where you will comfortably party together with the corrupt European unelected elite.

See what happended after the ilegal vote? All big companies, owned by Catalonians, run by Catalonians, have switched headquarters, leaving Catalonia in cahoots. Probably the largest business standing in Catalonia at the end of October will be the Bakery. Why do you hide such facts? The private sector has run for cover in 5 days.

Nothing to do with corrupt European policies. Nothing to do with the Spanish Government. Private sector man. They all flew the Catalonian milkmaid tale. In just 5 days. Probably the largest capital flight in such a short period of time in European history. Not bad.

Make sure you understand that under article 8 of the Constitution, the Army is DIRECTLY responsible for the integrity of the Spanish territory. And yet no military has been spotted in the region....

What happened in Catalonia? Under Spanish Constitution, the Spanish Government delegates its contitutional powers in the Catalonian government. As of late, the Catalonian government has failed to fulfill its (delegated) constitutional duties.

The Catalonian government has usurped a set of powers that the Constitution restricts to the Spanish government, and that are explicitly banned from any kind of delegation (such as the calling of a referéndum of ANY kind).

Under the Spanish currentrule of law, this is a criminal act, named rebellion. The criminal horizon of the members of the Catalonian government is something neither you not me would love to face.

The Catalonian question has no Deep roots. Please refrain from reading The Onion and stuff like that. Catalonia has never ever been independent. Never been a kingdom. Under the Romans it was a province of Hispania, which inturnwas a province of Rome.

More recently, Catalonia was a province of the Kingdom of Aragon (Capital, Zaragoza, not Barcelona).

Catalonia and Barcelona are the greatest spenders of the country, chronically into severe Budget déficits. Never in history have theyrecorded a Budget surplus. But like Bush II, you read statistics upside down.

Homeowners from all corners of the country have been evicted from the Banks their taxes helped bail out. Not only in Catalonia. You naughty Varou!

Ada Colau will be remembered in the history of politics as the candidate who campaigned in Barcelona Main Street with her legs wide opened, while literally pissing in the streets of the town she wanted to rule as Major. Such is the political stature of Ada Colau

As faras we know here in Spain, Ada Colau has RAISED taxes for all. She has not even built a single urinary for any refugee. Because under the Spanish administrative ruling, that is not under the capabilities of the Major of any city.

Bythe way, Ada Colau is a traitor to the independence cause. She is now publicly opposing a declaration of Independence. Her agenda is to let the current Catalonian government to sink into the criminal dungeons, for her to take over the helm at regional level. In private, she says she is the Spanish Jeanne d'Arc. I wish she was (including her final momento caliente).

You say the Spanish state is authoritarian. Likely you have access to potent chemicals.

You have zero knowledge of international law. No such thing as an Independence referendunm can be held in Catalonia as it is not a colony. A peaceful separation of the territories would need a referendum held in the whole of Spain. Otherwise it is pure rebellion, +15 years prison term granted.

All those Catalonians who by mistake embraced the "Independence" utopia will endure lifelong frustration and hatred against Spain. But it was their own regional government who induced them into the abyss of misjudgment.

MD-LBrotherly love in the form of beating citizens with batons is medieval, it is one step towards honour killing to keep the Spanish family wholesome. The supposed referendum was a mess but the wishes of such a large display of support for independence cannot be ignored and it wont go away with Rajoy refusing to talk. Arguing that economic effects are not likely positive has no effect when national and cultural identity is involved. Brexit for one example. You miss the point when you try to rationalise emotion. As does Rajoy when he goes on about legal niceties. Asking the whole of Spain what they think is also irrelevant. In the Scottish indie vote nobody asked the rest of the UK what they thought, its about self determination for a region. It is precisely the reason the EU has problems, it tries not to recognise local democratic process and opinions, instead claiming it knows best - the result was Brexit which will weaken the EU if only by 15% of its budget. Ignoring democratic leaning only increases resolve

By the Acts of Union (1707) the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England were voluntarily united into Great Britain. Both kingdoms were separate states with separate legislatures. True they shared the same King pretty much like the Commonwealth today. In that regard, the Scottish had theright to reverse their prior political decisions.

On the contrary, Catalonia has never ever been and independent state of any form. Prior to the current Spanich Constitution, Catalonia has been but a mere province of different states through history.

The wording "Independence" here has been selected by the corrupt Catalonian political elite as a means to confuse its own people. Secession would be more appropriate.

You state that there is no point in asking the opinión of the resto Spaniards. Well. that might wll be your personal opionion and I respect that. But the rule of law that the Catalonians voted for in 1978 (94% YES votes then) is such that referenda must be held nationwide, mandatory. If the rule of law is given no weight in organising society, then fine, let's go to the barricades.

Your views about Rajoy are totally out of reality. He has never ceased to offer "bilateral" talks to the Catalonian government. Not for secession purposes, but to agree with Catalonia a much greater scope of autonomy, with the monnies needed for that. Such is the reality. The Catalonian government has rejected such talks publicly because they just can not back off in front of their own public, to whom they have lied by and large.

On brutality. The ultimate protection of the rule of law, is the use of forcé. Under the Constitution, article 8, it is the Army who must defend the national territory. Not the Pólice. So Rajoy made a very measured move there, avoiding to send in the Green berets.

If you refer to the images of TV were some protesters were confronted to the pólice, you should know several checked facts. Checked by international media already.

From the +800 claimed injured people who were taken to hospitals on voting day, the real number has come down to just FOUR. One of them was a very old man who suffered a heart attack, of course the police was responsible!

Treating rebellious acts against the rule of law with candies will only lead to further rebellious acts elsewhere.

The organisers of the rebellion put old people and kids on the front rows to face the Pólice. That was such a miserable act of cowardice that for generations the Catalonians will feel the shame of that single act.

The TV coverage was almost exclusively conducted by the rebellious regional network TV3. Most national networks operators were beaten by the crowds of their work was rendered almost imposible.

And well, this is trench talk. The real deal is Catalonians dont want to repay their debts. The plan is/was to secede, to refuse to pay their share of the previous national debt, and to keep the Spanish state assets free of charge.

And they though they would laugh all the way to the bank with such a plan.

Now the tide of frustration is starting to be felt by the Catalonian herd. In previous history times, the public revolted and hanged their corrupt politicians. You know whathappens when the Catalonian government feels the pressure of the state in their napes? They invoke the Spanish CONSTITUTION !!!

Rajoy was called by a judiciary court as a witness in a corruption scandalat the end of last July. First time ever a Prime Minister has been called by a Court.

Make sure to understand that if the Prime Minister had to abide by the rule of law personally, the rest of the citizenship will have to do it too. Whatever their "indenpendence" dreams and emotions are.

My personal wish is the opposite. I would love an independent Catalonia repudiating all previous debts. LOVE IT. Because within the following 24 hours, Spain as a sovereign state would be forced to repudiate all debts too, and my country will be freed from that Germany imposed slavery mechanism.

The common thread that has emerged among the various european people is the belief and trust in white european racial superiority, source of white european technological advances and superiority as well as source of white european cultural advances and superiority e.g. democracy, human rights etc. If we want to unite the european people into one centralized unit, it will be necessary to build such an unite around that common thread, the european union truly has the potential of becoming an ally to Trump's effort to make the western civilization triumph over the lesser civilizations surrounding it. The name European Union is a misnomer, it would be more appropriate to call it "White Power Union" or "White Supremacy for the Enforcement of the Superior Values of the Western Civilization", this would give a true spiritual center to the nations of Europe, except the multi-ethnic Russia but Russia is lost to China anyway.

It's better to have an honestly acknowledged and managed, though not nice looking and hopefully ultimately illusory common thread than no common thread at all, at least until we find a truly deeper understanding of what people and civilizations are. I had to hear at a black lives matter reunion that races don't exist, scientifically speaking, but that's seems as relevant as saying that there are no species or even living beings, scientifically speaking, as humans, clouds, horses and sunflowers are ultlimately only made of protons, neutrons and electrons. Bruxelles like speeches tend to say that all humans are equal, which is nice looking while collaborating with Libyans to build interesting concentration camps that are supposed to work as scarecrows to discourage new migrants/equals to move north which is not nice looking, and while not taking drastic measures to stop global warming that is supposed to get more and more people on the move.

The beginning of a pan European State would be great! Though we need to circumvent the state sovereignty issue... the EU has a lack of long term project it cyclically has crisis which make it change project and course to keep it's appeal...

Yanis states that1) Barcelona has a big budget surplus. It does not. It had a big cumulative deficit because of in three years following the crisis but had turned the corner by 2013. In 2015, the surplus was pretty small but 2016 was better. However, increase uncertainty is likely to reverse the picture over the next couple of years.All this has nothing to do with Brussels. 2009 was a deficit year for Barcelona. Thus it couldn't have been the fault of 'mishandling on the Eurozone crisis' in the subsequent year.2) The EU somehow 'effectively banned' any reduction in surplus. Yet in 2015, the surplus fell by a lot. What Varoufakis is talking about is an accounting impossibility and has no relationship to the facts.3) Ada Colau built 'excellent housing facilities' for 15,000 refugees. This is not true at all. Some extra 2000 housing units for the indigenous homeless is a realistic claim. Had Colau built 15,000 units there would have been a deficit not a surplus of the 2016 level.4) EU officials have not demanded the removal of elected officials. Varoufakis thinks the head of the Eurogroup is an EU official. He is wrong. It is an informal group- none of its members are EU officials. That is why it was able to meet without him. He complained but actual EU officials told him that the Eurogroup was not an official EU body at all. A Dutch politician can tell a Greek politician anything he likes and vice versa. Informal groups can function informally. Why does Varoufakis still not understand this? After all, he was once a member of the Eurogroup. But he wasn't an EU official was he? No. He was a Greek politician- an incompetent one, who resigned and didn't stand again for election.

Let us now look at Varoufakis's proposals.1) EU Treaties should be amended. Surely it's a good thing to amend Treaties? The answer is no. A Treaty which is constantly being amended guarantees nothing. It does not decrease uncertainty. It adds noise to signal. Furthermore, the procedure for amendment requires unanimity, which means rent-seeking by hold outs, and even in its 'simplified form' is subject to precisely the sorts of 'conditionality' which Varoufakis has been fulmining against.

2) Amended EU treaties should enshrine the right of regional governments and city councils, like Catalonia’s and Barcelona’s, to fiscal autonomy and even to their own fiscal money. They could also be allowed to implement their own policies on refugees and migration. Wow! So if a city council, has a high concentration of a particular ethnic minority or religious or ideological sect, it should have the right to recruit itself through migration. Suppose, the Nazi Party takes control of a particular City Council. It should be allowed to bring in Nazis from all over the world. It should also have right to 'fiscal autonomy'- punitive taxes on Jews or non Aryans, for example- and also its own 'fiscal money'- featuring Swastikas and images of Adolf Hitler.

3) EU should have 'a code of conduct for secession. For example, the EU could stipulate that it will sanction an independence referendum if the regional government requesting it has already won an election on such a platform with an absolute majority of the voters. Moreover, the referendum should be held at least one year after the election, to allow for a proper, sober debate.' Wonderful! So the EU suddenly gets the power to sanction referendums does it? From where? Either the country affected vetoes it or else the EU is irrelevant because the country wants the secession to go through. What about this notion of 'proper, sober, debate'? Is there any evidence that referendums have ever, anywhere, been associated with any such thing? What is to prevent a liar and a fantasist from contributing to the debate? Or should the EU have a 'gag Varoufakis's ilk' Law preventing 'improper, un-sober, debate'?

4) In Varoufakis's plan for Europe, there will be a lot of new states, which the new states which 'should be obligated to maintain at least the same level of fiscal transfers as before. Rich Veneto could secede from Italy, for example, as long as it maintained its fiscal transfers to the South. Moreover, the new state should be prohibited from erecting new borders and be compelled to guarantee its residents the right to triple citizenship (new state, old state, and European).' A 'should' statement is only meaningful if the thing 'could' be done. What Varoufakis is talking about is infeasible. The EU has no machinery to force fiscal transfers. All it can do is make them itself out of its own budget. But the burden of these transfers will fall upon all areas of the continent which pay in more than they take out. There is no way to force Veneto to pay more than some German or French area with a similar Economic structure.

Why was the EU set up? Was it so that Nation States could be dissolved? No. It was so that Nation States could grow stronger by reason of no longer having to worry about loss of territory. Catalan separatism shows that poorer European countries have misplaced their faith in Europe. That is why the Visegrad states are on a collision course with Merkel and Macron. pan-European Democracy may sound good but, in practice, it would mean a revival or irredentism, Balkanisation and relatively prosperous 'City States' going their own way. This is a return to the Middle Ages.

A pan-European Democracy means anarchy unless Europe has the monopoly of legitimate coercion- i.e. an Army and Police stronger than any possible hostile combination- in which case it would have a Rule of Law. But, without such an Army and Police force, there might be some sham appearance of a pan-European Democracy- people like Varoufakis making silly speeches- but there would be nothing but gangsterism and anarchy on the ground. Soon enough, economic collapse would put an end to the sham. Genuine gangsters- not Bankers- will pick up the pieces.A Europe 'worth saving' is a Europe which saves for a rainy day- instead of handing out money to stupid, corrupt, profligates on any excuse. Varoufakis has got it into his head that rich areas can somehow be hoodwinked into handing over cash to poor areas. Things don't work that way. Rich areas pretend to give money to poor areas while exploiting them remorselessly. In practice this means taking the smartest of their young people like a modern Pied Piper leaving behind demographic and infrastructural collapse.

Dissapointing article. No need to make the point, on your European vision, based on false facts. Catalonia has been bailed out by the Spanish Central Government. It is not an economic question but a gamblers bet by an extractive elite who have been managing the region for the last 40 years using the nation-populist ideology to their benefit. You should read Karl Marx opinion on the Spanish State... or even better Dr. Antonio Garcia Trevijano republican leftish papers on that... for God shake, you, our maverick of the left being fooled by the CataNazi propaganda!